Category: Management

Mets Owner Jeff Wilpon In Atlanta… Why?

Colorado Rockies vs New York Mets at Citi Field in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsOk, first we find out Omar Minaya is in town for the Atlanta series to “Support his team”. Now we find out Mets owner Jeff Wilpon has also strolled into town right behind him. NOT a good sign.

Somewhere, Willie Randolph is smiling.

Somebody’s got to go and if I had my way it would be both Omar and Jerry Manuel. In the beginning of the season I stated that if the Mets had a slow start that these two would have to go. I would consider last place, six weeks into the season, a slow start.

On top of that here come the Yankees and Phillies who could bury them in last place for a long time. It’s not looking good, my fellow Mets fans, but I have always followed an age old rule, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results“. Continue reading “Mets Owner Jeff Wilpon In Atlanta… Why?”

Video: Jeff Wilpon With Mets In Atlanta

Jeff Wilpon spoke to the media before tonight’s game about the reason he’s in Atlanta. Nobody is getting fired. At least not today. He wouldn’t be there if he wasn’t really ticked off. I’m sure he expressed that in his meeting with Jerry Manuel, Dan Warthen, Omar Minaya, and John Ricco.

Here’s the video from ESPN.

http://espn.go.com/videohub/player/embed.swf

Enhanced by Zemantahttp://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js

Minaya Traveling with Mets To Atlanta

NEW YORK - JUNE 23: General Manager Omar Mina...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Mets GM Omar Minaya was with the team while they got swept in Miami. He was scheduled to come back to New York but changed his plans after the Marlins completed the sweep. Minaya will travel with the team to Atlanta to “offer support”.

The last time Minaya traveled with the team to “offer support” was in 2008 before Willie Randolph got fired. He went to Denver and then Anaheim for his midnight firing. Having Minaya around “offering support” is like getting a pat on the back from the grim reaper.

I don’t expect Jerry Manuel or anyone else to get fired this week. But I do expect the Mets to shake things up if they’re still in last place at the end of May. It seems to be almost a consensus that Bob Melvin will get the job if Manuel is canned. If so, expect Dan Warthen and Howard Johnson to go too.

It should make for an interesting two weeks. With the Mets, it’s always interesting.

Enhanced by Zemantahttp://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js

Mets Have Biggest 2010 Ticket Sales Drop

Florida Marlins at New York Mets

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsI wrote back at the end of April that the Mets were experiencing the largest drop in ticket sales this season among MLB teams. That was according to a report in Fanhouse. Since then, things have only gotten worse for the Mets according to the NY Times.

In April, sales were down an average of 6,690 tickets per game. Now they’re down 6,852 tickets per game. Things have gone completely into the toilet. If you’re on the Mets email list, you know how aggressive they’ve become this season trying to sell tickets. It’s become a daily event for them to email about some new ticket sales promotion. Continue reading “Mets Have Biggest 2010 Ticket Sales Drop”

Mets Links: Mike Pelfrey, David Wright, More

David Wright
Image via Wikipedia

It’s time for an off-day full of links after a poor road trip. The Giants are coming to town tomorrow for a weekend series. And there were several curious decisions made by Jerry Manuel during the road trip that made many of us scratch our heads. It’s a good day to take a breath, get back on track this weekend, and get ready for the Mother’s Day pink bats and sweatbands on Sunday.

Here are the links:

  • Daily News– Mike Pelfrey asked to go back to New York after Sunday’s game in Philly to have his right shoulder examined. He felt some tightness in it before Saturday’s start.
  • Mets.com – The MRI on Pelfrey’s shoulder didn’t show anything and he says that he’s ready to make his next scheduled start on Friday night.
  • Metsblog.com – Interesting stats on the Mets poor pinch-hitting this season. Good questions are raised about some of the guys in Buffalo that are raking right now.
  • Daily News – Carlos Beltran has a new knee brace and plans to start running late this week or early next week. Didn’t we hear the same thing about Beltran a month ago?
  • Daily News – Daniel Murphy is still rehabbing his knee injury in Port St. Lucie with no timetable for a return to games.
  • NJ.com – Kelvim Escobar is having season-ending shoulder surgery. He never even made it to opening day. But the Mets owe him $1.25 million for his troubles this season.
  • Fangraphs – Dave Allen writes a good piece examining Dan Warthen’s strategy for Johan Santana to throw more inside fastballs the first time through the order and then change it up subsequently.
  • Daily News – David Wright was involved, at some point, with the financial advisers that are being sued by Cliff Floyd and Rondell White over a failed real estate deal. The article says Wright isn’t involved in the lawsuit.
  • Fangraphs – R.J. Anderson writes about the odd moves that Jerry Manuel has been making recently, and the fact that this is the kind of thing that could cost him his job.
Enhanced by Zemantahttp://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js

Report: Tony Bernazard Was Mets’ Scapegoat

Colorado Rockies vs New York Mets at Citi Field in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe Mets 2009 season was basically a season of misery on the field. And off the field it was a complete soap opera. The biggest story of the 92-loss season turned out to be the behavior and firing of Tony Bernazard as their VP of player development.

Among the accusations against Bernazard were:

  • He took his shirt off and challenged the Binghamton Mets to a fight
  • He got into an argument with Francisco Rodriguez
  • He publicly yelled at a Mets employee when he didn’t get the seat that he wanted at a game

In the strangest firing of all time, Omar Minaya announced the firing last July 27 and then blamed it on Daily News writer Adam Rubin and his jealous desire to work for the Mets. Or something like that. It was difficult to understand exactly what Minaya was implying. Continue reading “Report: Tony Bernazard Was Mets’ Scapegoat”

Forbes 2010 Baseball Team Values

The annual Forbes list of baseball team valuations lists the Mets as the third most valuable team in MLB. They lost 6% from 2009 and stand behind only the Yankees and Red Sox.

Forbes came out with their annual list of team values yesterday. The Mets are listed as the third most valuable team in the game behind the Yankees and Red Sox. That’s not a big surprise to any of us. What is interesting is that the Mets declined in value by 6% from last year, the only team in the top half of the league to do so.

You can still see the 2009 list of values on Forbes’ website. The Mets fell behind the Red Sox by losing value. The heavy debt from Citi Field and the poor season certainly are to blame for the devaluation. Continue reading “Forbes 2010 Baseball Team Values”